Happy Ever After
by KiraLiven
Summary: Leo has read and watched and heard of fairy tales, and has come to a conclusion: Lost of bad things must happen before he gets his happy ever after. Of course, these fairy tales he read and heard about weren't exactly the original ones. And his life was more like a Greek Tragedy. Or, Leo Valdez and his relationship with love. Oneshot


**I don't really know where this came from, but here it is: Enjoy!**

What is love?

Leo was sure he knew. It was the messages that his mother gave him, the kisses on the cheek. Love was how he felt around his mom, how his mom felt around him. No matter if he caused trouble between her and her family, no matter if he was a troublemaker. She still loved him.

And yet how could she not be there for him now? Wasn't love supposed to prevail? In the end, wasn't love the determining factor? How could Leo have his happily ever after if she wasn't there, to love him, and for him to love?

His first foster home had fairy tales in them. Not the original Grimm brothers, Hans Christian Anderson ones, but the changed ones, with 'happy ever after's. Those were his bedtime stories. He watched Disney movies, based on those fairy tales.

He then came to a conclusion: You had to lose someone you love, had lots of bad things happen to you, and then find the one you love and live happily ever after.

So, lose someone you love? Check. Lots of bad things happen to you? He had already moved many schools, many foster homes. Check. Find the one you love? No check.

He had done everything already, where was his love? How could he love, when he knew he had the ability to hurt those he loved, and who loved him back?

But he couldn't miss a chance. He would be open, always open, to finding his true love. It could be anyone. It could be that annoying little girl in his class, the weird girl who knew all the answers. It could be the pretty one, the ugly one, the mature one, any of them. So he would make sure they all noticed him, so that when they realized they were soul mates, they would actually know each other.

Jokes were learned, made up, told. As he grew up, he began to try flirting too. Announcing to the world that he was single was easy, and did all the above. Pretending to be conceited was how lots of the guys got girls in the movies–not Disney–that he watched, so he tried it too. He even began to tap out 'I love you' in Morse code, on purpose this time, thinking that maybe his true love would understand it, know it was for her, and come up to him.

But he never found his true love. He began to tap at all times, around friends, around enemies, whenever one of his hands were free, they would be tapping out the rhythm. No one understood. No one cared.

Leo began to realize that his life wasn't like a fairy tale. He wasn't going to have lots of bad things happen to him, find his true love, and then, after a few more hardships, ride off into the sunset with her. He wasn't going to get a happily ever after.

But old habits die hard.

He wasn't doing it all to find his true love anymore. He was doing it because true, he liked anyone even remotely pretty, and wouldn't mind going out with them, but also because people thought he was weird. He was going to prove to them that he could get what not everyone else could. He was going to show how he could do more than fix things, he knew how to act around society, how to be liked.

Of course, it never worked, but it was always worth a shot. Especially when he found out he was a demigod. The people there must be more like him, right? So he would fit in there. He might find someone there.

He might even find someone who could understand Morse code.

It was after his first quest when he realized that the bad things he thought had happened to him were nothing compared to what could now happen to him. So the thought of happily ever after came back to him. Yeah, his life was probably on the track of a Greek tragedy, but there was still a possibility it would be a fairy tale. Leo wanted to learn more myths, more stories, more fairy tales. Maybe that way, the happy endings would happen to him.

The camp library had the original fairy tales. The Athena and even Apollo cabin would probably throw a fit if they found anything other than the originals in there. Okay, so maybe the orginal ones didn't always have 'happy ever after's… so what? Couldn't he still have one? Couldn't he still try? And what about his true love? He might still find someone who'll love him. Percy and Annabeth had lost much, and then gained much. (And then lost more, but he ignored that.) Jason and Piper lost much, gained each other again. Leo lost much as well, and he was going to gain things. That was karma, and although Leo was Greek and the son of a Greek god, karma could still exist for him, right?

So Leo made a mental checklist as he fixed Festus up. He had lost his mother. Part of Festus. All his foster homes, all the possible childhoods he could have had. He had, so far, gained a family, friends. He needed to gain one, maybe two more things. They need to be equal, right?

So Leo waited. He didn't change his ways, because that was who he was already. But Leo waited for more things he could gain.

He gained the Argo II. He loved her, really did love her. Of course, she wasn't an organic life form and probably wouldn't even be called real, but he still loved her and still gained her. So far, he had lost Festus, gained the Argo. Lost foster homes, families, childhoods he could have had, and gained a family and friends. But he still hadn't gained anything as good as losing his mother was bad.

And then Calypso came into the picture. And Leo realized how much alike to a Greek tragedy this was going to be. He was going to get back to her, or die trying. Most likely the latter.

Leo couldn't stand to tap out 'I love you' anymore. He couldn't stand to see the ocean, stretching as far as the eye could see, and know that he was sailing away from her. Sometimes, he couldn't even stand to look at Percy, knowing how much hurt he caused Calypso. (But then he'd thank him, because Calypso wouldn't have fallen in love with Leo if Percy was still in the picture.)

Leo had found his true love. And maybe, after 'a few hardships,' in the form of Gaia and the Giants, Leo would find Calypso again and have his happily ever after.

And she would learn Morse code. She would understand when he tapped 'I love you' on her skin, when he tapped it on her hand, and she would tap it back to him. She would mean it, too. And so would he.

So he allowed himself to travel to the possible end of the world, because he was going to get back. He had to. He had to beat Gaia and the Giants, fix up Festus and Odysseus' astrolabe, and make his way back to Ogygia. Then he'd get his happy ever after.

**Hope you liked it. Tel me what you thought of it, good and bad, constructive criticism appreciated. Thanks!**


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